19 June 2008

Various Things on a Thursday

We have bike racks, sure, but we also have reserved parking for Invalidecykler - disabled or elderly cyclists with special bikes.I met up with a team from Trek Bikes from the States yesterday. Three designers and product executive. From left: Joe [from the Dutch office], Erika [designer], Dan [The Man - the product executive] and Heidi [designer].

Heidi contacted me a while back and asked if we could hook up for a chat about Danish bike culture and bike-related design. They are on a research trip around Europe; Münster, Zürich, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

What a lovely group of people. We hung out for a couple of hours before they headed off to do some shopping on their last day. They had been riding all around Copenhagen visiting bike shops that sell their Trek Bikes and gear.

I usually meet up with visitors who wish to talk to me about bicyle culture and infrastructure in Copenhagen so it was cool to hang with some creatives with a different angle. It's always great when design can inspire design, across borders and oceans.

These appeared the other day at various intersections around Copenhagen. On the bike lanes to remind cyclists to "Watch out for blind spots". Right hook accidents are high profile stuff in the media, which kind of blows it out of proportion, but simple signs like this are always good.The Traffic Safety Board had a campaign in the same vein on the City Hall Square yesterday, with the same theme.

I love these signs. 'Ensrettet' means 'One Way' and then underneath 'Cyclists Excepted'.

Kilometres cycled by Copenhageners so far today

Copenhagenize.com is the blog of Copenhagenize Design Company. Online since 2007 and highlighting the cycling life in Copenhagen and around the world.

40 years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 41% of the population arriving at work or education do so on bicycles, from all over the Metro area. 56% of Copenhageners themselves use bicycles each day. They all use over 1000 km of bicycle lanes in Greater Copenhagen for their journeys. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.